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Rebekah Brooks arrested in British phone-hacking scandal

A 43-year-old woman, identified by British media as Rebekah Brooks, was arrested Sunday. |
Reuters
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Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said Murdoch “needs to come absolutely clean about what he knew, about what his senior executives knew, and why this culture of industrial-scale corruption - so it is alleged - appeared to have grown up without anyone higher up in the food chain taking any real responsibility for it.”

Rupert and James Murdoch are to be grilled by U.K. lawmakers Tuesday over the scandal. Brooks also had agreed to be questioned before a parliamentary committee, but her arrest throws that appearance into doubt.

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“Obviously this complicates matter greatly,” said Wilson, her spokesman. “Her legal team will have to have discussions with the committee to see whether it would still be appropriate for her to attend.”
Lawmaker Adrian Sanders said if Brooks did not appear, “that is not going to go down very well with my fellow committee members.”

When Brooks stepped down Friday, she said she was going to “concentrate on correcting the distortions and rebutting the allegations about my record.”

She was editor of News of the World from 2000 to 2003, when some of the phone hacking took place, but has always said she did not know it was going on, a claim greeted with skepticism by many who worked there.

At an appearance before British lawmakers in 2003, Brooks admitted that News International had paid police for information. That admission of possible illegal activity went largely unchallenged at the time and lawmakers are keen to ask her about it again.

Police previously arrested nine other people, including several former News of the World reporters and editors, over allegations of hacking and bribery. Those include Andy Coulson, a former News of the World editor who became Cameron’s communications chief before resigning in January. No one has yet been charged.

Even more senior figures could face arrest, including James Murdoch, chairman of BSkyB and chief executive of his father’s European and Asian operations. James Murdoch did not directly oversee the News of the World, but he approved payments to some of the paper’s most prominent hacking victims, including 700,000 pounds ($1.1 million) to Professional Footballers’ Association chief Gordon Taylor.

James Murdoch said last week that he “did not have a complete picture” when he approved the payouts.
Hinton, too, could face questioning over wrongdoing at the News of the World during his 12 years as executive chairman of News International. But Hinton is an American citizen living in the U.S., so British authorities would have to seek his extradition if he refused to come willingly.